How to Organize Your Home Room by Room

Adam Bender | Feb 23, 2022

Organizing your home room by room is a difficult task. Whether you have one bedroom, two bedrooms, or three bedrooms, a garage, and a basement; the task at hand will be a challenging one, but it can be done if you follow just a few tips.

First, start with the kitchen and then move on to organizing the bathroom(s), home office, playroom, master bedroom, closets, and finally, the garage.

Read on to learn how to turn your cluttered home into an oasis of organization, one room at a time.

Home Organization Tips

Before you begin with the room(s) needing the most attention, be sure to keep the following organization tips in the back of your mind:

If you haven’t used or seen the item (clothing, tool, cooking utensil, toy) in the last year, throw it out or donate it.
If you own multiples of the same thing (power washers, weed whackers, pasta strainers, paint cans, etc), reduce that collection to just one by trashing or donating the others.
Each item should have a place when it’s time to put it away (if not, it will sit on the counter).
Ask yourself the following questions when shopping, according to the House Mix Blog:
"Do I already have something similar?"
Is there somewhere for me to store this at home?
Will I use this item regularly?

Start with The Kitchen

The kitchen is the best room to start your organizing journey. It is the focal point of the home and most likely acquires the most clutter, especially if you have children. Your kids might come home from school, empty their backpacks or folders all over the table, and the papers pile up throughout the school year if you don’t get rid of them.

If you don’t have a home office or any other designated space for your children to do their homework, purchase a bin for school papers that can be stored under the island counter, or in another room. Pull it out when it’s time to review homework, tests, quizzes, and projects.

Next, be sure to go through the plates and cups you have for your children. If cups are missing lids, throw them away. If plates are broken or worn, to the trash they go! Then, provide a shelf for all of the plates and cups you are keeping for your children, preferably one they can reach on their own. This goes for your regular set of "grownup" dishes as well.

Every appliance needs a place within your kitchen when not in use, including the coffee pot, air fryer, toaster/toaster oven, blender, and crockpot. There’s no reason to keep them sitting on the counter, taking up precious space. Instead, designate a space for each item in your cabinets.

Get rid of all cracked and stained cups and plates, especially those that aren't part of a matching set. Also, try to cut down on the number of reusable water bottles you have. If you are a family of four, consider keeping just one reusable water bottle per person. Very important, match all plastic storage containers with the right lids! If you find a missing lid to a container or vice versa, toss them out or give them away.

Organize The Bathroom

The bathroom vanity can become a dumping ground for hair products, makeup kits, and dental hygiene products. What good is a vanity with drawers or cabinets if you don’t take advantage of them? Put all of the makeup you use regularly in a single drawer. Reduce the number of "hair devices" to just three: a straightener, a curler, and a blow dryer. Use a drawer to store these items and separate them with a tray so the cords don't become tangled.

Empty the vanity completely and sort through every product. If it's empty, close to empty, expired, or you haven’t used it in more than a year; throw it in the trash. It's never a bad idea to buy clear storage bins you can label for the bathroom. See what you have without opening a million drawers and cabinets.

Organization for Your Home Office

The first place to start when organizing your home office is the filing cabinet. Shred any documents at least seven years old. Store pens, paperclips, notepads, and other small items in one of your desk drawers. Throw away any dried-out pens and papers you no longer need.

Create folders that are clearly labeled as such for the filing cabinet:

House
Cars
Health insurance
Folder for every child
Taxes
Appliance manuals
Receipts for items still under warranty
Finances

The Playroom

The playroom can easily turn into an abyss of toys, games, and junk. Depending on the age of your children, this might be the most difficult room to organize in your home. Children can wreak havoc on a playroom in a matter of minutes, no matter how organized it is so be sure to keep that in mind.

Put these tips to use when organizing the playroom:

Throw out all toys that are missing parts or no longer work
Donate toys your children have outgrown
Sort all of the playsets and puzzles with lots of pieces and store them in an area not easily reachable by little hands
Encourage gift cards, books, passes to experiences (the zoo, museums, swim lessons, etc), and science kits for birthday and holiday presents instead of toys.

The Master Bedroom and Closet

Your bedroom should be an oasis that helps you relax at the end of a long, stressful day. This means there shouldn’t be clothes scattered about the room, tools from a never-ending project, or paperwork that should be stored in the office. Make your master bedroom a priority if you have been experiencing high levels of stress.

First, look in your closet and examine all of the shoes you and your spouse own. Don’t wear them? Donate them. If they are worn and tattered, throw them out. The leftover pairs can be placed on a special shelf or organizer as suggested by the experts at Hartville Custom Closets and Garage in 14 Versatile Accessories to Organize Your Custom Closets. Next, try to limit your t-shirts to just one drawer per person and no more. Get rid of clothes that no longer match your style or your age. Donate anything that magically doesn't fit anymore.

Figure out how many hangers can fit on the bar in your closet without making it sag. Limit the number of clothes you will hang unless there's room for an extra bar. Not only will this prevent it from breaking, but your closet will remain pristine and organized.

If your master bedroom closet has enough room, consider turning it into a custom closet. Remember, there are more than a handful of benefits related to investing in this upgrade. In fact, DASI Innovations recently wrote on article addressing the question Can Custom Closets Increase The Market Value of My Home? The answer is, absolutely!

Organizing The Garage

The garage can be a touchy subject between you and your spouse, especially if it's a mess. Stop storing things for family members in your garage. That’s one way to reduce the amount of stuff you have and provide you with enough room to park your vehicles.

Get rid of old paint cans, doubles of garden tools, boxes of old paperwork, items from when your children were in college, and anything else you haven’t used in at least a year. If you store your holiday decorations in the garage, try to separate them by holiday so they are easy to find each year.

Keep in mind that the following items should never be stored in your garage, at any point of the year:

Paint
A refrigerator
Paper goods
Pet food
Propane

If possible, employ the following tips:

Do not store items on the floor
Hang Slatwall racks on the walls for tools
Hang longer items that aren’t used regularly on the ceiling
Install a workbench

Final Thoughts

Deciding it’s time to organize your home room by room might seem daunting. However, if you enlist help from your family and maybe even some friends, you’d be surprised at how quickly you can find success. Once you've organized your home, stick to your guns, and continue to rid yourself of excess clutter each year.